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I haven’t written for a while as life outside of running for me has been a bit crazy. We’ve been flying around as a family trying to fit lots of things into our life, and as a result my son got a cold and I was feeling under the weather last week and at the weekend, and I also started a new job so getting used to not working completely for myself and just the general routine has been challenging – but so far so good!.

As a result of all of the above I missed a few runs which initially I was really beating myself up about – but it was something my friend Sam said to me when I cancelled that made me think – she said:

Running for fun! Sam and I finishing the Twilight Half Marathon earlier this year🙂

“We’re just doing it for fun anyway, no stress!”

Exactly right.

I’m not a professional runner, I do this for fun and I think the moment it starts to feel like it’s a burden will be the moment I stop doing it. So I reframed how I was thinking and thought ok – no worries it’s ok to have a week off, and I am good to go next week.

I think sometimes it is so easy to get caught up into things and to accept that we cannot always do everything – and sometimes things have to go – and for me on this occasion – it was running.

I’m back now – feeling better and ready to run tomorrow. I also entered the City to South – just to give myself a challenge. It will be very slow but I’m doing it with my friend and it will be FUN🙂 Then after that it’s the Dubbo Stampede which will again be FUN (and hilly) running around the Dubbo Zoo – so a few things to look forward to running wise.

I had never really thought about writing a blog especially about running and I always wondered what on earth I was going to write about – but here I am 5 years later and still writing🙂

I originally started writing it for a few reasons :

1. To stop my husband and friends from going nuts having to hear about my running escapades all the time; and

2. To encourage other people that running is fun and not just for elite runners and skinny people! Neither of which category I fit into!

3. In dedication to one of my running companions that I ran with in London – Charlie. He was amazing and had run over 50 marathons – and in his 70s could still outrun me any day. He died a few years back but he was my inspiration – remembering all the chats we had whilst running our long runs on the weekend and all the great running advice he gave to me.

It was never about the numbers, the followers it was just a place to jot down and share my thoughts. I never thought anyone actually read the blog but over the years I have had some really nice feedback and when I was thinking of stopping writing I had some really great encouragement – so thank you to those of you that have encouraged me and supported- it means a lot🙂

I’ve been trying not to broadcast the fact that I haven’t been able to run lately due to a couple of minor (or major – depending on how you look at it) health issues. Initially when the doctor said no exercise that takes my HR up over 120 I ignored her and I carried on doing a bit of running here and there and also a lot of road riding with my friends. I’ve always been stubborn like that! I know… hard to believe😉

But then i started thinking – I have been running for 10 nearly 11 years and this is just a short period of no running – perhaps I should listen to the doctor. So I stopped the running and continued with the riding. Then I started thinking about all the hospital bills we have been paying and how my stubbornness and determination to still train could potentially push those fees out to the foreseeable future and I caved.

I found myself ashamed and feeling like a fake – I mean here I am writing a running blog but not able to run right now. I felt miserable and very sorry for myself and probably drove my close friends a bit nuts and it was only the other day that my training buddy in both riding and running said ‘why not write about it on your blog’ – the thought horrified me, but then I thought about it some more and I thought I would come clean and get it off my chest.

It’s so hard and frustrating when you have always been used to running. Sure I am no elite runner, but running is in my veins – it’s what i do and what I love – so to be told I can’t do it for a while has been agony and I have felt a whole range of emotions ranging from anger, stubborness, feelings of failure to a wide range of others – crazy eh!

So I will continue to write about running, my thoughts and experiences and I hope you will continue with me on the journey – if not I will see you on the other side when I eventually am able to run again – I can’t wait for that – but for the moment I am content with light riding, walking and weights (not too heavy – pushes my HR up!) and trying to eat sensibly.

I’m having a rest day from training as it’s been a tough week and I did a hard sprint session last night.

I’m really excited as I as interviewed a while back for an article about top blogs for Weight Watchers magazine, and it’s out. The blog is featured on page 33/34 of the October magazine.

One of the questions I was asked was why I started the blog and why and it was really great to be able to chat about my passions. I really hope it encourages readers to discover their passions and to write about them too.

I had never really thought about what my real passions were before but running would have to be one of my top things when it comes to things I love to do and talk about – much to my husbands sanity and friends too!

The last week has been a bit all over the place with a number of things going on in my life, and I have really found it hard to gather the momentum to train. I don’t know what kind of person you are – whether you find having things go on and on your mind pushes you more and makes you focussed, or like me it causes you to lose focus of your usual routine with eating and exercise.

Do you ever have days when you feel like this? I sure do.

I had coffee with my beautiful friend yesterday and she said to me ‘you have to go back to the gym and train – you will feel so much better, you know you will.’ I agreed with her but secretly wondered if I could be bothered – but I missed two days of training and that’s a fair bit to me.

So this morning when the alarm went off I hauled myself out of bed and made myself go to the gym and jumped on the treadmill, and you know I felt great and had one of the best sprint sessions that I have had in a while. I came away from the gym feeling pumped and ready to start the day. That’s all it took – a little push and my motivation and mindset focussed again.

How do you motivate yourself? what has and hasn’t worked? What focusses you? I’m interested to know – wondering if I am the only person who needs a kick up the butt every now and again from a friend who knows me better than I know myself sometimes!

I haven’t written a blog post in a while. I’ve not had writers block, more like runners block.

I go through this every now and again, and I find it hard to get up to run or find excuses to not run after work. I find myself doing mainly classes such as Body Attack, Pump and RPM rather than running, but I think I’m back now. It’s starting to get a little bit warmer, the sun is staying out for longer and its lighter for longer. My injuries seem to have cleared up and I am ready and raring to go again.

I ran with the Forest Lake running club – the Flakers this morning which made a nice change and did a nice comfortable 5k and felt pretty good. I’ve been concentrating so much on racing and being prepared for the races that I had forgotten what it felt like to run without pressure – it was good.

I recently started ballet classes too – yes I know – my husband thinks it’s the funniest thing he has ever heard but there is a method in my madness, it’s great for building up the strength in the legs and it’s also something different too. So I have been embracing my inner ballerina and go once a week. Loving it!

It’s easy just to give up when we are demotivated but often we need a break from the norm as the training can become a little repetitive, so it’s good to try other things and then when you eventually get back to pounding the pavement it’s great to get back to something familiar and you remember all over again why you do it.

I’ll be running tomorrow and doing my Monday pump class and back to my normal training.